Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In Buddhist teaching, among three poisons (tam độc) – greed, anger, ignorance (tham, sân, si) – anger is probably the least heeded. People, including the preachers, tend to talk more about greed and ignorance than anger. And we can see that the “teachers” tend to get angry often too.

But, anger is one of the three poisons, folks. Continue reading Anger →

Dear Brothers and Sisters

That question has troubled numerous philosophers throughout history, and no one has been able to definitely answered it so that people don’t have to ask that question anymore. Yes, the question will stay alive as long as human is still around.

We cannot use language and logic to determine the existence of God, because God is a spirit, and spirit is invisible. When you talk about what you can’t see with your eyes (plus whatever equipment to aid your vision), it is hard to say anything, just like talking about ghost and demon.

Continue reading Is there a God? →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Do you know the real difference between a soldier and a civilian? The difference is discipline. A civilian very much can live any way he likes. The soldier has to live with the military discipline, which is known worldwide as the toughest discipline anywhere.

Discipline means rules – everything has a rule. Military discipline is: When you eat, when you stop eating, when you go to bed, when you wake up, how to do your bed, how your shoes should look… Every small or big thing of your daily living has at least one rule, sometimes more than one. Continue reading Discipline →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the Beatitudes, which is Jesus’ first sermon on the mount, there is an intriguing sentence: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5).

The meek are the gentle people, humbly patient or quiet in nature, especially when under provocation from others. The meek avoid confrontation, don’t fight, don’t grab, and try to maintain the peace at all time. Continue reading Blessed are the meek →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Have you ever asked yourself that question: “Am I trustworthy?” Or, have you ever told people who know you: “Trust me”?

If you don’t have the courage to say “Trust me” to the people who know you, chances are you know you are not trustworthy to them. Continue reading Are you trustworthy? →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

People teach each other how to handle stress, anger, depression, loneliness, hopelessness… But no one teaches you how to handle happiness. “I am happy, man. I going to a restaurant with a bunch of friends, to celebrate my success, probably we’ll have champaign too. Why do you want to teach me how to handle happiness? Is there a better way than a party at a 5-star restaurant?”

Yes, there is a better way than a party at a 5-star restaurant.

If you jump around when you are happy, you will jump around when you are upset or angry, or lie motionless when depressed or hopeless.

It means, external events – be they happiness, sadness, or hopelessness – can easily take over your heart and control it. A jumpy heart will jump at anything. A quiet heart will be quiet with anything.

A quiet heart treats success or failure, winning or losing, gain or loss… with the same serene attitude. Whatever comes, the quiet heart remains quiet, maybe feeling a little happiness or a little disappointment, but still quiet and calm always.

So, if you want to be calm and quiet in the face of calamities, then make sure you be calm and quiet in the face of victories.

Remember, a jumpy heart jumps at anything, a quiet heart stands quiet at anything.

Wish everyone a quiet heart.

With compassion,

Hoành

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Trần Đình Hoành
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity – Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant – & Islam), and I imagine many other God-based religions such as Hinduism and Sikhism, have the concept of Kingdom of God aka Kingdom of heaven. The Churches-Mosques-Temples and their faithful think of Kingdom of God as a physical (or spiritual) realm where you may come after you leave this earthly world. Continue reading What is the Kingdom of Heaven? →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In the working world, be it business or politics, your success doesn’t depend on your degrees or intelligence. Those are only good, sometimes, for new graduates looking for job. But after you get your first job out of college, your degrees and intelligence don’t mean much anymore. What will determine your career success is your ability to work with people.

This is the people-centered principle for success. It contains these basic points: Continue reading Jobs looking for you →

Sitting on my tiny rooftop garden, how much I cherish the early morning tea with the sweet sounds of a bird family. These birdies graciously made my roof their home since the day I settled here. How thankful I am for this precious gift of sound, offered by my birdy friends despite the city noise that they have to compete with. How unbearable it would be, imagine one day, I find no birdy singing on my roof nor in any other corner of this Earth. In the quiet corners of our world, where nature once thrived and rang its melody, Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” warned us about a future where the symphony of Nature would be no bird chirping, no insect buzzing, not even leaf rustling, but replaced by creepy hush, only. And that scary destructive silence was caused by the pesticide and herbicide. These days, we find ourselves in a different strike of silence. One that haunts the holiday season in Gaza, Palestine – a Silent Christmas. The laughters of children and the voices of joyous carols are muted by the horrors of war and genocide. This is not a Christmas story from a distant land. This haunting silence deeply matters to our conscience. For this silence echoes the death of humanity. For this silence is the death of the voice in our heart. Today, the Silent Spring’ metaphor manifests as a heart-wrenching reality in Gaza. The land, once filled with life, is now and again suffering the cries of dead innocent civilians on a muted Christmas. The parallel is striking. It hits me hard. It is close to our heart and home. The death of Nature is intimately tied to our own humanity’s loss of conscience. The birds had no trees to nest then died, the people of Palestine had no land to home then perished. This silence is a collective human tragedy. The Silent Christmas is not a call to just stop celebration or stop singing. It’s about the collective loss of innocence and joy of thousands of children, many of them even died unborn. The Silent Christmas is not about no festive meals prepared by loving hands of thousands of mothers and women, many lost their lives and their unborn babies in labour, because of bombardment. The faces behind the silence are real people, like you and me. They are my children, your children, our children, the children who should be playing, laughing, dreaming and having peaceful futures. They are my mothers and your fathers. They are our sisters and brothers. Yet their families are all killed by the brutalities of war. Their pain is our pain; their silence is our collective responsibility. Break the silence, speak out! Speak from the deepest spot of your heart In this profound silence, there is hope – the collective voice of humanity rising against the atrocity and against the genocide. For the Carson’s work ignited a powerful environmental movement, the catastrophes in Gaza have sparked a global outcry. The silence matters. The silence urges each and any of us to take responsibility and compels us to speak up against the genocide, against the destruction of lives. The silence matters. It deeply reminds us of our interconnectedness as human beings. Let us break free from the shackles of apathy. Let us call out the hypocrisy. Let us raise our voices against the silence of atrocity and genocide. Speak out! Speak from our hearts, speak through our songs, speak with our stories, speak by our actions. Speak out in your prayers, and ask for you to be the voice of love, hope and Peace. With compassion. Đào Thu Hằng

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are OK when you sit by a lake to enjoy the cool breeze and the little waves twinkling under the warm sun and think about nothing other than “This is so relaxed and wonderful.”

You are not OK when you feel depressed, sorrowful, angry, fearful, lost, hopeless… In other words, you feel unhappy. Continue reading What do you do when you’re not OK? →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Do you feel the connection between you and everything around you – people, animals (dogs, cats, chickens, ducks…), trees, flowers, birds, sky, clouds, rivers, seas…?

Everything around you constitutes your world – the small world you have, within other larger worlds, such as your city, your country, your global world. Continue reading The connection between you and your world →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

When I was in high school and university, we boys often told each other: “Heaven is not for you, boy. You already have a one-way ticket to hell. Forget about heaven.” You know, you went to church or temple and listened to preachers, at home your parents preached also, and you always heard that you were bad, bad, bad and sinful, sinful, sinful. Almost everyone everywhere preached negative, especially when it came to you, you, you. So, you grew up and believed seriously that you were so bad that it was impossible for you to buy a ticket to heaven. The place waiting for you was hell. Continue reading Nhân chi sơ tánh bổn thiện – Human nature is originally good →